Open-Path Fourier Transform InfraRed (OP-FTIR) Spectrometer

Equipment

Type

Open-Path Fourier Transform InfraRed (OP-FTIR) Spectrometer

Purpose

Consists of a spectrometer which emits an infrared beam toward a retroreflector, which reflects the light back at the spectrometer. From the infrared absorption spectrum we are able to determine which atmospheric gases are present (spectral position) and in what quantity (absorption intensity). The spectrometer and retro must be separated by anywhere from tens to hundreds of meters, depending on the target gas

Research Facility

Facility

Tropospheric Remote Sensing Laboratory

Organization

Saint Mary's University

City

Halifax

Province

Nova Scotia (NS)

Description

The Tropospheric Remote Sensing Laboratory (TRSL) is housed in a modified shipping container and located on a rooftop at SMU. The TRSL includes a fully equipped weather station as well as a tiled and railed outdoor roof research space suitable for the deployment of complementary atmospheric composition instrumentation (e.g., other horizontal or zenith-viewing remote sensing instrumentation, in situ trace gas / aerosol / fog instrumentation, a ceilometer, deposition instrumentation, etc.) The principal instrument at TRSL is currently an Open-Path Fourier Transform InfraRed spectrometer (OP-FTIR), which provides the continuous characterization, with high temporal resolution, of a broad suite of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and other trace gases relevant to air quality and the greenhouse effect (e.g, O3, NOx, SO2, CO, CH4, CO2, N2O, NH3, HCHO, and others). The OP-FTIR is also available for mobile characterization and monitoring, on a campaign-basis, of individual sources (e.g., ship plumes, stacks), line emission sources (e.g., roads), and diffuse sources (e.g., crop fields, fuel wood combustion) of trace gases. The TRSL laboratory provides a unique ground-truthing dataset to challenge satellite- and model-derived surface concentrations and emissions of air quality trace gases and greenhouse gases.